my insides are hollow.

i can forget for a bit;
the pain is more distant
when i'm with others.
people who joke with me,
make me smile and laugh,
bathe me in their love
in a warmth as constant as the sunshine.

alone,
i can hardly stand the pain.
the emptiness that can't be filled
with food or music,
emptiness that can only be satiated with
love.
love that is gone,
taken cruelly away
before i could prepare myself for this new void,
this hole, this missing *****
where my heart used to beat proud and strong.

how foolish i was to let it keep
beating with such force,
a happiness so strong it could not be stopped.
it's gone now
and i am counting the days until
this loneliness settles,
until my heart is refilled,
until i can breathe again without
this sharp pain
this constant reminder
of my missing love.